STRESSFUL PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE AND ADRENAL CORTICAL FUNCTION AS INDICATED BY THE LYMPHOCYTE RESPONSE

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Abstract
IN PREVIOUS studies (7, 8) we have shown that the stress of prolonged pursuitmeter operations of healthy young men enhances the output of urinary 17-ketosteroids above their resting levels, and we have described relations between scoring ability in fatiguing pursuitmeter tests and the magnitude of steroid excretion. Anoxia produced by breathing air deficient in oxygen not only quantitatively reduces ability to maintain high pursuitmeter scores in an hour's test, but also greatly increases the output of 17-ketosteroids which are primarily of adrenal cortical origin. Dougherty and White (1) have presented evidence (based on the administration of corticotrophin and adrenal cortical extracts) that adropin the lymphocyte count results from the action of adrenal cortical hormones in animals. We have shown (2) that mice stressed by being tied down show a marked and progressive depression of the lymphocyte count during thestress which effect is absent if the adrenal glands are removed. Following a study (6) of a group of 21 psychotic patients and 11 normal controls exposed to high temperatures and high humidities we have reported a marked fall in the relative lymphocyte counts in normal subjects and, interestingly enough, a rise in lymphocyte counts in the patients.

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